Mahesh Bhupathi advances to 2nd round of Australian Open, Leander Paes out

Mahesh Bhupathi and Luxembourg's Gilles Muller advanced to the 2nd round of the Australian Open today in the doubles category after beating the Australian duo of Alex Bolt and Andrew Whittington 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4.

This is Bhupathi's third competitive event since he bowed out of the 2015 Wimbledon - missing the entire second half of 2015 owing to his commitments with the International Premier Tennis League (ITPL).

He played at the Chennai Open and then at a Challenger tournament in Thailand, where he reached the semifinals with fellow Indian Purav Raja.

Meanwhile, Leander Paes and French partner Jeremy Charady made a first round exit after losing 3-6, 4-6 to Colombian 12th seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Squandering 5 of the 6 break chances, their challenge was over merely in 72 minutes.